Pleco's spawned need advice

[cemantic]

Our bushynose plecos that we have had for about three years have spawned.  There is just a bunch of yellowish orange eggs at present.  My wife just noticed them this morning.

The aquarium is 110 gallons, H 30" x W 18" x W 48"
It is a tall tank and the male is with them in one corner.

There are 5 Clown Loaches, a couple of black phantoms, a few other small tetras and mom and papa pleco.

The aquarium is well planted and has a CO2 system but the tank ran out a couple of weeks ago and I have not had a chance to refill it yet.  I wonder if this had something to do with why they spawned now after all the years.

I added two airstones as a temporary measure when the CO2 ran out that are running all the time.

Temp 78-80

PH about 6.5-7

Any suggestions on what to feed them?  I've read lettuce at first then baby brine shrimp.  I dump in the Hikari Tropical Algae disks daily for the adults and tropical fish flakes for the other guys.

Not really setup to get them in another tank.  Any advice to maximize their survival ability?

Should I vacuum other areas of tank as I usually do with a weekly clean and do a water replacement or should I leave the tank alone until they hatch and have matured?

Any help and advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[fischkopp]

Congrats! You don't really need to change much, just keep up your maintenance (WC) and make sure they have food. This is always a bit difficult in a community tank, but with BN pleocs you will always have lots of survivors if nobody is picking them up.

Hikari algae wafer and flakes are the way to go. I had mixed experiences with lettuce; I find it pollutes the tank more then being food source. Best is zucchini because they love it and it doesn't break down as fast. Cucumber is good too, but decays faster. There is no need to do BBS.

It takes some time for plecos to mature, depending on their conditions and growth. But once BN plecos have figured out that they are adults you will see them spawning continuously, like every month for me.

For the future you may want to add a tube-like cave (bamboo, PVC-tube) that is closed on one side and just wide enough for the male to fit inside. He will make it his home, spawn inside and take care of the fry until they can move on on their own.

Good luck!

[jetstream]

If the eggs are in a cave, the male will take care guarding/fanning the eggs all the time until the fry is ready to explore the outside world. The time period is approx 2-3 weeks from egg stage until the fry ready to go.

You can put in a piece of zucchini, cucumber or even the white flesh of water melon and cantaloupe. Pleco like baby brine shrimp, but be careful don't overfeed them. Otherwise the brine shrimp will chocked their digesting system

Congratulation and good luck!    

[cemantic]

Don't know if this will make a difference but they are all out in the open, no tube or cave type structure, in one corner with the male guarding them.  The filter intake is about 6-7 inches in from that end and about 8 inches off the bottom.  I can move it along the edge to get it far from them to clean the intake.

Should I try to put in a PVC tube at this point?  I'm assuming it is better to just leave them alone for now.  Maybe one for the future.

[Fishnut]

I don't think there's much you can do now.  The PVC pipe would be appreciated for next time though

Congrats!

[LittleAngel104]

Congrats! 

My plecos keep reproducing,  I have 3 pairs in my 90g and once in a while,  I have had them lay eggs in a corner of the tank,  even though they have tubes, cavities and driftwood.  I even had the ''clump'' of eggs detatch from the tank corner to land  on the gravel.  At that point I was worried I would loose the eggs to my crayfish so I picked up the egg ''clump''  and put it in a tiny floating fry inclosure,  and put it in front of the filter spray bar.  And then statrted waiting to see what would happen.   
Within a couple of days,  I started noticing the eggs had tiny little tails!!!   So less then 3 weeks after ''saving'' my pleco eggs,  I had about 25 little plecos (about 1 cm long) wiggling in my fry tank.  I'ld say 85% survived to the size of 2 inches (that's when I usually sell them). 

I see that you have clown loaches in your tank,  if the loaches are big enough,  I'm convinced they will think your little plecos are a fine source of food.  Make sure your little plecos have plenty of spot to hide that are too small for the clown loaches to get into.  Hope all goes well for your little ones!!!

[cemantic]

Very sad, all the eggs were gone this morning.  Not one left.

I assume it was the Clown Loaches that got to them.

The poor male is still staying in the area and fanning the spot where the eggs were as if they still needed caring.

I will get a cave setup to see if they spawn again but I fear that they would suffer the same fate with the Clown Loaches in there.

A fry enclosure might be good if they do spawn again but eventually they need to be let loose and would probably suffer the same fate.  Maybe a small aquarium to put them in if they do spawn again.

[Dorrie]

I will get a cave setup to see if they spawn again but I fear that they would suffer the same fate with the Clown Loaches in there.

A fry enclosure might be good if they do spawn again but eventually they need to be let loose and would probably suffer the same fate.  Maybe a small aquarium to put them in if they do spawn again.

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that.

Might I try a hybrid of the two things you mentionned? You could give them a pvc pipe or cave setup, and if they do spawn again, you can remove it from the main tank and insert it in another tank, with or without the parents.